Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Coffee Break #6: What's hot on earth?

This is a series of emails written by me, inviting fellow colleagues in the Department of Civil Engineering, UTP for the weekly coffee break. Attendee - lecturers, technicians and postgraduate students.

-----------------------------

Assalamuallaikum,

The conventional method of air temperature measurement is by measuring at 1.5 m above ground level. Basically, the temperatureof the free air circulating in the area is measured. However, in reality, the hottest temperature is at the surface of the Earth, where the thermal energy is more concentrated. A report by Mildrexler, D.J., Zhao, M., and Running, S.W. (2006) presented a synthesis a method of measuring the temperature on the earth surface which they argued is more accurate, using a remotely radiometric land surface temperatures (LST). Since air is a poor heat conductor, LST in midsummer can be 30º–40ºC higher than the air temperature. That’s why the air in the beach is more bearable than standing barefooted on the beach sand.

According to the same report, these were recorded:

In 2003, the hottest LST detected on the Earth’s surface was 69.3°C, in Queensland, Australia

In 2004, the hottest spot on the Earth’s surface was 68.0°C, in the Lut desert of Iran’s Kerman Province (even bacteria can’t surive the heat!). In 2005, the Lut desert reached 70.7°C

Figure 1 shows the average of the hottest annual maximum LST. Looks like Malaysia is still in the green region despite the heat that we are enduring this last few days. Not so bad, is it?

Let’s have a break?

Day: Every Wednesday (starting 6th April 2011)

Time: 10:10 -10:40am (official time but you can come/leave as you wish in between)

Riyadhus Solihin

Chapter 193Strict Orders for Observance of Obligatory Salat

Hadith 1076Ibn `Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: The Messenger of Allah(PBUH) said, "I have been commanded to fight against the people till they testify La ilaha illAllah (There is no true god except Allah) and that Muhammad (PBUH) is His slave and Messenger, and to establish As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and to pay Zakat; and if they do this, then their blood and property are secured except by the rights of Islam, and their accountability is left to Allah."[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].